With Chilean newspaper La Tercera this morning announcing that Chile’s unemployment rate has climbed abve 10% and layoffs in the mining industry at 12,000 and climbing rapidly, the labour market in mapuchelandia is becoming a serious issue. So how do the local mining unions react? By threatening strikes! Here’s an extract from this BN Americas report:
“Continued layoffs in Chile’s mining sector will cause workers to go on strike this year, copper miners federation FMC president Pedro Marín told BNamericas.
“If the layoffs continue, 2009 will be marked by strikes, work stoppages and protests,” Marín said.
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LOL! I can just imagine the conversations between mining unions and Codelco management on this one:
Union: “If you don’t stop laying us off from work, we’re going to stop work.”
Mgmt: “Great! Thanks! Go ahead! We’re producing too much anyway, and this means we can avoid paying you without any of that mucking around with redundancy charges.”
Union: We’re not kidding you know…this is serious….we’ll do it.”
Mgmt: We can provide banners and stuff for your marches if you like.
Can somebody please take these unions leaders aside and explain to them the difference between a buyer’s market and a seller’s market? It’s way too late to start complaining about the horrors of your country’s neoliberal employment policies when it all goes sour.